Self-made mechanisms for automatic irrigation
Take care of the plants that adorn your home in advance by making simple accessories for auto-irrigation. They are easy to manufacture and will not affect the family budget.
Wicks
Take a fabric that absorbs moisture well. Cut it into strips and twist into wicks. Bury one end in a pot with a plant, and lower the other into a container with water. The wick will supply the ground in the pot with moisture as it dries. If you often leave the house for a long time, fasten the wick to the bottom of the pot during transplantation by threading the cord through the holes in the bottom.
Plastic bottles
No less simple and effective is the automatic irrigation mechanism using plastic bottles. Fill the container with water up to the neck, puncture the small hole in the cap and close the bottle with it. Turn the bottle upside down and screw it into the pot slightly. Water will gradually flow from the tank into the soil, moistening it. You can speed up watering, puncturing the bottom of the bottle. But do not overdo it: the hole should be quite tiny, so that water does not flow more than necessary, otherwise you can provoke decay.
Medical droppers
You can also make an excellent automatic watering system from these seemingly distant floriculture devices. Dip one end into a container with water, and the other into the soil, and closer to the edge. If you do not leave the house for a long time, use the clip that comes with any drip. If your vacation will be long, it is better to close the tube and pierce a small hole in it or simply narrow the clearance in the needle. There is a third option, involving the use of a porous sprayer designed to supply air to the aquariums. It should be put on the end of the tube.
Plants that need a lot of liquid, such as marsh, can simply be put in a large container with water. The pot should not be submerged by more than a third. It will not be superfluous to water the plant in plenty. Our grandmothers also used this method, and almost always it turned out to be effective. For flowers that prefer only moderate watering, this method, of course, will not work: their root system will quickly begin to rot. For them, you can also take a wide flat container, pour pebbles or sand into it, pour water, make a well and place a pot in it.
Ready-made systems for auto-irrigation
If you do not trust home-made devices, you can contact a specialized store, where you will be offered a variety of convenient devices that independently provide uniform hydration. They can not be attributed to cheap goods, but these expenses are justified: you can enjoy your vacation and not worry about the condition of your indoor plants.
There are also special pots for automatic watering. However, you can use them if you plan your vacation in advance: the flowers are placed in such containers during transplantation, a few months before departure.
"Smart pots" consist of several parts:
- top - intended for the soil;
- Medium - separates the upper part from the bottom, consists of a mesh material;
- bottom - a tank filled with water.
Flowers in such a pot are planted as usual, and you take care of them, including watering, in the usual way. After several months, the roots sprout through the net, and then the flower receives moisture from the reservoir below through its long roots.
Another way to provide automatic watering with ready-made devices is to buy special cones. The tanks of the flasks are filled with water and fixed by means of sharp spouts in the soil. They can be used only if you leave for a few days: the moisture in small flasks is not enough for a longer period of time.
Many growers have long had another great invention of scientists, hydrogel, in their arsenal. It is a polymer granules, absorbing an amazing amount of moisture, which is then metered to the roots of the plant. An important point: the flowers will have to be transplanted into this substance. You need to soak the granules in water for 7–8 hours, wait for them to swell and move the flowers there.
Useful to know
It will be safer for plants if you start “accustoming” them to auto-irrigation a week before departure or more. So you can determine the optimal rate of irrigation and the amount of water that must be left at the time of absence. In order for the flowers not to feel your prolonged absence, pay attention to a few additional recommendations:
- Limit the flow of sunlight by moving the pots from the window sills to more secluded places. Remove fading flowers, buds, excess shoots and leaves. All this will help reduce the evaporation of moisture.
- Water your plants liberally before leaving.
- There are also such representatives of room flora, about which you can not worry about watering at all - cacti and lithops. They do not have to be flooded with water on the day of departure: these plants will meet you as fresh and vigorous as you were before your holiday.
- Do not fertilize flowers directly on the eve of departure, especially if your vacation falls on summer time. In the heat, they consume more water, with too much salt in their leaves. With automatic watering, the plants are not sufficiently enriched with nutrients, which often leads to burns of the leaves.
If, despite compliance with all the recommendations, you still found your plants withered or even dried, there is an opportunity to quickly reanimate them. Remove the withered leaves, lower the pots into the water and keep there until bubbles stop forming. After that, the flowers must be removed in a dimly lit place. After one or two days, the condition of the plants will return to normal.
